Reavers dont leave survivors
by The Great Space Hobo
Summary: Wash knows something's wrong right away, there are no signals. No signs of life coming from the small moon where Ross, Mal's old war buddy, has invited both Zoe and Mal to his daughters birthday party. post-OiS Pre-BDM. revamped. no longer a one-shot!
1. Parties are so shiny!

Disclaimer: Do not own Firefly. If I did, I wouldn't have signed up with Fox ( hiiiissss!) and the series would still be going! So keep your fingers crossed.

A/N: ok, this WAS writen at 3 in the moroning, but then rewritten, 3 times then betaed twice so it should be ok now. This might stay a one-shot, I'm not sure yet... enjoy!

Wash looked at his scanners with worry. He got a bad feeling about this. Mal told him not to worry, that their power was always going out on that far moon. Still, there was a gnawing feeling at the pit of his stomach. There was no signal, no sign of life... just nothing. He ran his fingers through his fluffy blond hair. Zoë said the same thing. Normally, if he didn't like what the Captain had to say, all it took was Zoë's silky (and scary, he can't forget scary) voice to convince him. But not this time.

A few weeks back, they got a call from an old buddy from their war days. Both Mal and Zoë where thrilled to hear from him. Apparently his daughter was turning fourteen, a big age for his religion, and he wanted Mal and Zoë to be part of the ceremony. They both agreed, and off they went.

Now Wash was entering the moon's atmosphere without any signal to guide him to just where this tiny town was. He didn't like this, not one bit.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Kaylee smiled happily. She always seemed so cheerful to Mal and Zoë, who were both in unusually good moods. "I can't wait to meet this friend of yours! It's so shiny."

Mal nodded, a smile on his face, "Its been a while since we've seen that crazy bastard."

Zoë laughed as she took a sip of something that came from a bag. After a while she couldn't tell what she was drinking any more, it all tasted the same. "Almost five years to the day. Maryjo was so small back then, she was only nine when we last saw her."

" If you don't mind me asking, was kind of ceremony is it you're invited to?" Derrial asked in the calm polite tone he seemed to always have.

" Ross is part of a small Uhge religion that started up in the back water moons." Zoë explained. "When a girl turns fourteen, she is considered a woman. It's a pretty big deal for them."

" Ah yes, a branch of Christianity where they believe the God is in fact a woman and that it was Adam, not Eve, that took the first bite of the forbidden fruit." Derrial nodded, tapping his Bible thoughtfully.

" Yeah, pretty much. A lot of clergymen don't take to kindly to Uhge Shepherd," Mal said, eyeing Derrial to see if he might be a problem.

" You should know me better than that, Captain. They follow the word of God. They are a branch of my church," he replied calmly.

" Oh, I'm so excited! I love parties!" Kaylee said, almost bouncing in place.

OoO OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Wash landed on the first flat surface he could find. He checked his scanners again, still nothing. That's it; he was putting his foot down. Something was very wrong here.

Wash pressed the call button, "Captain, can you come to the brig please? We've got a problem." His voice echoed harshly down the metal hall.

Mal walked into the brig a minute later. Despite his annoyances, he was still in a very good mood. "What is it, Wash?"

"Sir, you should take a look at this." Wash brought up a screen and Mal's face drained of color.

"Are you sure the scanner is working?" His voice took on a slight edge like it always did when threatened with bad news.

"I checked and rechecked. Believe me, Captain, the scanner isn't picking up any activity at all. It's like... it's a ghost town."

Mal's face hardened, and he clicked on the intercom. "Zoë to the bridge."

OoOoOOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Mal, Zoë, and Jayne slowly walked down the ships ramp, guns in hand. They looked around with conscious eyes as they headed to the town.

When they got to the town's limits, Mal let out a few choice words. Half the town burned to the ground while the other half was covered in blood. The air smelled metallic and sour; no smoke was rising anymore. It must have been a few days since the attack, maybe even weeks. All three had seen towns like this before.

Jayne shifted his body weight nervously, his eyes darting around in a panic.

"Looks like goddamn Reaver-"

"Don't say that!" Mal almost hissed at Jayne. " We don't know what happened to them!"

Zoë didn't say anything. Her hard gaze scanned over the ruined town, her face unreadable.

The trio turned the corner and stopped in their tracks. Nailed to the wall on one of the remaining houses were the twisted remains of the colony-flesh sown, burned, and nailed together. They could see both Ross and his wife in the sick flesh sculpture.

Zoë let her arms drop to her sides and hung her head. Mal kicked a broken clay pot in rage and screamed. He couldn't think of any of way to put how angry he felt, how sad he felt. He knew these people. He had eaten with them, laughed with them. Reavers did this, there was no question of it now. They didn't die quickly either. Most of them where probably still breathing when this was done to them.

He screamed again, his cries echoing around the dead town.

Zoë lifted her head up and looked at the faces, distorted in their last moments of agony. Her dark eyes scanned over them, studying them as if she was looking for something. " Sir, Maryjo isn't here..." she whispered in a hoarse voice.

Mal held up his hand, "Shhh. Did you hear that?"

The other two stopped and listened. A tapping sound was coming from the next house over. Jayne lifted up his gun and looked around widely.

"Reavers! They must still be here!"

"Calm down. If they were still around, we would be wishing we where dead already!" Mal snapped as he carefully walked over to the house with Zoë right behind him.

Mal slowly open the door and was hit by the pungent odor of decay. He knew this smell; how could he forget it? The smell of infected, rotting flesh.

Fighting back a gag, he pried into the darkness and despite himself sucked in a lung full of the sour air.

" Sir, what is it?" Zoë said, taking a step forward.

" Stay back, Zoë!" Mal snapped and pulled out his communicator. " Simon, get your ass down here with a stretcher NOW!"

OoO OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

Her whole body felt numb. No, numb wasn't the right word. Detached? It was a better, but it still wasn't quite right. She could hear voices around her, but she did not understand what they were saying. (Were they even people?) She could see light through her closed eyelids, but she couldn't will them open. (Odd, she wasn't even sure if they were her eyelids.) She wasn't even sure if she had a mouth.

When she finally did manage to open her eyes, she saw a girl (young woman?) standing over her. Her long, dark hair fell around both of them, making a soft curtain to the harsh light. Her brown eyes looked at her with curiosity.

"River, leave her alone," said an older man. She could not see him.

"She's awake, but not quite," the woman (she decided she was more woman than girl) whispered in a quiet, airy voice.

"What?" The man sounded rather surprised as he gently pulled the girl away and looked over her. He had light blue eyes and the same shade of dark hair.

" Maryjo? I'm Dr. Tam. Can you hear me?" He said in a soothing, low voice.

The girl frowned in confusion. Just then remembering that she did in fact have a face.

What was that man talking about? Who was Maryjo?

A/N: Well here it is. Let me know what you think.

PS: Also, I know Maryjo is a weird name but... It was the name of a cousin of mine who passed away. idk why I feel so compelled to use it here...

R.I.P. Maryjo.


	2. Cows

AN: Huzzah! I'm back baby! XD Sorry, it took me a while to make up my mind on not leaving this a one shot. Kinda short, sorry.

Enjoy! Reviews would be shinny! Conservative criticism is shinny too! Flamers will have their addresses handed over to the Hands of Blue and told that they are hiding River Tam. So do it at your own risk.

* * *

The whole crew of Serenity was sitting around the table in the dining area. Mal was tapping at the counter, crossing and uncrossing his legs. Zoë was sitting completely still, Wash kept checking her chest to make sure she was breathing. Jayne was cleaning one of his guns, he needed something to keep his hands busy. Book was tapping a finger on his worn bible and Kaylee was twisting her hands together in distress as Simon gave Maryjo's heath report.

"What'd yah mean she don't remember?" asked Kaylee, her soft brown eyes widening, her voice getting higher in distress.

"She has what we call post-traumatic amnesia, most likely from the Reaver attack on her village and . . ." Simon trailed off. Even with all his social awkwardness, he knew better then to bring up just what had happened to her.

"What I wanna know is why she's still on this gorram ship!" Jayne barked as he slammed down his fist, "am I the only one that remembers just what happened last time we took on a survivor from a Reaver attack?"

Zoë and Mal both shot him dark looks but Wash nodded.

"As much as I hate to say it, he has a point. How do we know she isn't going to flip out on us?" he said in a meek voice as Mal glared at him.

Mal and Zoë didn't want to admit it, but they had thought about this too. Well, mostly Zoë tried to reason with Mal about the dangers of having her onboard. Mal didn't want to hear it, he already lost so many of his old war friends. Ross' death, hell, the death of the whole town, had been a low blow for him. He knew it was stupid and dangerous, but he just couldn't abandon Ross' daughter.

Zoë had always been the level-headed one. The one that pulled Mal's head out of his ass when he was doing something stupid on a gut feeling. But this time she couldn't move him on his decision.

"I thought of that too, and I'm keeping her doped up for now," Simon admitted.

"Has anyone tried talking to her?" Book interjected. "If I remember correctly, the young man we rescued from the ship was babbling some very disturbing things."

Simon scratched the back of his head, trying to choose his words carefully before speaking. "She's not making much sense, but nothing like what the other man was saying. When she is awake her and River just kind of stare at each other."

"Where is River, by the way?" Kaylee asked, looking around the room. River had been sitting quietly in the corner but now she was gone.

"River?" Simon cried out in panic as he ran from the dining room.

"Ai ya!*" Mal muttered as he got up and followed the doctor.

Simon looked into the window of the med room and found it empty, "Oh, not good! Not good!" he said, looking around like he might have missed the two girls when he ran in. He ran his fingers through his hair and hurried back to the hall where Mal, Zoë, and Kaylee were waiting.

"They're not there," the doctor said, short of breath.

"Go se*" Mal hissed, "Zoë, check the engine room, Kaylee, tell Jayne to check all the other rooms and then you and Inara check her shuttle."

"But Cap' in, she ain't-"

"Now, Kaylee," Mal said in the firm tone that meant no more questions.

"Yes Cap' in," she mumbled before running back into the dining room.

"Doc, you're coming with me," Mal ordered before hurrying down the hall with Simon on his tail.

Luckily, it didn't take long to find both Maryjo and River sitting on the steps in the bridge staring up at the stars. White bandages wrapped around Maryjo's left arm and peeked through her shirt. Both where staring up at the sky with fixed fascination.

"River," Simon sighed in relief as he hurried to her side, "What are you-"

"I thought she was like the cows,"(1) River said, not taking her eyes off the Black.

"River, that's very rude!" Simon chastised her as he gently pulled her up.

"Oh," Mal nodded, crossing his arms, "You were just trying to help."

"I thought if she saw the sky she would remember who she was. Maybe if it was blue..." River trailed off and walked out of the room, mumbling to herself.

Simon sighed, "Sorry Malcolm, she was just trying to help."

"She didn't mean no harm, just keep an eye on her."

Simon nodded before following his sister, leaving Mal and Maryjo alone on the bridge. The young girl had shown no sign that she heard or cared about the activity going on in the room. The browncoat sighed deeply before sitting down next to Maryjo.

"Sure is somethin', ain't it?"

He had said something like that to her before, that last night he saw her family alive. He could almost feel the warmth of the town fire on his skin, smell the home-cooked food, hear the town's laughter. Mal closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to rid himself of the too-real memory.

Maryjo didn't reply, she just kept looking up at the sky. Mal took it as a good sign. Silence was better then Reaver babble, that was for damn sure. Though silence wasn't exactly a great comfort. Maryjo used to be such a chatter box, Mal used to threaten to tape her mouth shut just to get a moment of peace. Now he would give anything to hear her talk.

"Maryjo," Mal paused, trying to get his words together, "Do you know who I am?"

"You're the captain of this ship, right?" Maryjo answered innocently as she looked at him, unaware of the pain it caused Mal.

"Yes, that I am. My name is Malcolm Reynolds," The older man said, trying to sound casual about the whole thing.

"I'm..." Maryjo paused and then sighed, "This is embarrassing, I'm not to sure what my name is."

"Ah, that's all right," Mal said with a forced smile, "Happens to the best of folk. Lots of things happen'in in the past few days. Your name is Maryjo, if you're interested."

"Maryjo," The name sounded awkward and heavy on her tongue, she didn't like it and it read on her face.

Mal chuckled bitterly. He was never one to spot an ironic moment but this must be what one looked like. He used to give Ross such a hard time about naming his daughter that backwater moon name. But Maryjo was so proud of it, happy she had such a unique name.

Mal sighed heavily before he stood up, "You hungry, kid? We don't got much, but it's food...more or less."

Maryjo thought about this before carefully pulling herself up with her good arm, denying the hand Mal offered her as she struggled to her feet. "Can't say I remember the last time I ate so I would have to think so."

A small half smile crept onto his face as he led her out of the bridge and down the hall. Whatever was going to come next, he was going to look after this girl. It was the least he could do for her, for her family.

* * *

AN: AAARG! *bangs head onto desk* Wash I love you to bits but you're a son of a BITCH to write. You too Mal! Book and Kay are by far the easiest. Sorry about the shortness, and the bad ending.*sigh*

1) My beta told me the cow line might be lost to some people. In the ep _Safe_ River said _"They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see the sky and they remember what they are." _So really River was just trying to help, in her own moon brain way. :)


End file.
